Capacity for Love
by historylover
Summary: Walter contemplates after "Of Human Action."


A/N: I've never written a Fringe one-shot before. I love it, but I watch Supernatural on Thursdays. In fact, I'm writing another Supernatural story, but it's coming slow. One reason is I keep watching my Fringe DVDs and watching season 2 on-line. One reason I love Fringe so much is the relationship between Peter and Walter. What's going to happen when Peter finds out? But, since this is my first Fringe one-shot, I apologize in advance for not writing Walter very well.

Disclaimer: J.J. Abrams is awesome. Fringe is awesome. Don't own it, but, boy I wish I do.

**Capacity for Love**

Peter was tired. Walter wished him a good night and puttered around the kitchen, putting the crepes away. Briefly, he thought about bringing the crepes to the lab tomorrow because Asterisk might like them, although Gene might not like the fact that cream was inside the crepes.

Peter always liked crepes. Or "creeps." Walter chuckled at the memory. Before Peter got sick, "creeps" were made every Saturday…

_No_, Walter reminded himself once again. Peter never called them "creeps." He never was all that fond of crepes. The Peter that liked crepes, or creeps, died when he was seven.

Walter picked up Peter's teddy bear that he used to make the white noises and hugged it. He missed the seven year old boy. Looking across the apartment, Walter noticed a toy soldier that Peter played with when he was a little older…

_This_ Peter played with. His son. His adult son. The one he lost his sanity for. The son who rescued him from St. Clair's, the one who Walter depended on. The son who was upstairs now.

The son whom Walter was so scared he would lose today.

The human heart always amazed Walter. The capacity for love always fascinated him. He wondered how he could still love and miss the little boy who toddled around, clutching this teddy bear as well as love and miss a different person who played with this toy soldier—a man now—equally.

Walter understood the desperate need of Tyler's father to lie to Tyler about the past. The desire to forget the past by altering it and thereby changing the future. Just like the scientist father at Massive Dynamic, he hoped what was past could stay past.

Unfortunately, throughout this year, Walter became painfully aware that past actions couldn't stay buried. Seemed like everything he and Belly had done had come back to haunt him. From the drug experiments on Olivia and her group of little friends to his time machine pieces to working on interdimensional phasing. He thought that traveling between dimensions was the only successful experiment. Belly thought all their failures could be modified into successes with a little luck.

Walter had believed in a lot of things. Luck hadn't been one of them. Fate was definitely something he believed in. Maybe Belly was right. Look at well he had done for himself.

He wandered upstairs, still clutching the bear and the soldier to Peter's room. He looked inside to see Peter asleep.

Before Peter died, Walter watched him sleep. After he got Peter back, he watched his son sleep. Of course, one reason was due to Peter's tendency to sleep walk and have nightmares. But, Walter would watch him sleep before he went to St. Clair's.

Peter rolled over on his side and muttered something that Walter couldn't quite catch. Although Walter realized that chances are that Peter was dreaming about this latest abduction, he couldn't help but feel a shiver run down his spine at the possibility that Peter was dreaming about his other abduction.

Since Peter's nightmare a month ago, Walter had felt tense. He felt like he was losing his mind again. Walking on eggshells would do it. How much did Peter really remember? Obviously, he was remembering something subconsciously. It was manifesting itself through dreams. But, it was a matter of time that Peter would consciously remember everything. After all, anyone with Peter's intelligence would figure out what happened with a few more details.

Everything would come out one day. Walter lived in fear of that day. How could he tell Peter that he desperately loved him? Peter probably wouldn't believe him. Think that he was still a replacement for a dead kid. Peter will probably wonder if Walter tried to mold him into his son's image.

Walter hugged the bear tighter. He had to admit that, at first, he wanted Peter to be more like his dead son. From the start, Peter was different. More stubborn. More independent than his own son. Even from the beginning, Peter had an off-beat, sarcastic sense of humor which Walter found hilarious and, in fact, wished that his own son had had.

He thought back to Peter's abduction today and clutched the toy soldier tighter. He felt so desperate. He couldn't lose Peter. Not again. Even though he knew Peter often resented him, he couldn't function without his son. But, for the first time ever, Walter wondered about Peter's actual parents. Were they still alive? Was his father desperately wanting his son back, even after all these years?

"Walter?" Peter's sleepy voice started Walter, causing him to jump. "Are you all right?"

"I-I wanted to make sure you didn't want any more crepes."

Peter sighed and rolled onto his back. "I'm good, but thanks."

Walter walked out of the room. He would wait until Peter went back to sleep before sitting by his bed, making sure he was actually all right. After all, Peter was his son.

End

A/N: Again, sorry about OOC to anyone who watches Fringe and who reads this. For any Supernatural fans who are reading this because I'm an author you keep track of, throughout Thursday's Supernatural episode, I was going "I'm missing Fringe for _this_?" You want me to give you the mythology of this series, let me know. I'll be happy to share. Fringe is an awesome show! Also, I'm working on a Supernatural story. It might be multichapter. But, I'm working on it. I hope you will like it. And I hope I didn't write Walter too OOC to any Fringe fans.


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